Dawn of a Network
The CW's prez Dawn Ostroff discusses her season so far
America's Next Top Model
The CW, the green offspring of the merged WB and UPN networks, is now five weeks old. That's a lifetime to the 18- to 34-year-olds it's targeting, so the Biz thought it was a good time to ask the CW's entertainment president Dawn Ostroff how it's going.
TVGuide.com: How do you assess the year so far?
Dawn Ostroff: I think we're pretty happy with where we are. We got off to a solid start. What we said all along is that what we really want to see by the end of the season is to have a little bit of growth over what UPN or WB would have had. Right now we have a little bit of growth over them in 18- to 34-year-olds. We knew the migration was going to be a huge undertaking. The best way to describe it is that it would be as if you woke up one day and 67 percent of the country was told, "Oh, you're going to see CSI on a different channel." It's a big ordeal to move all of these viewers, tell them there is a new network, and tell them you need to find a new show on a new station.
TVGuide.com: What show has made the transition most successfully?
Ostroff: America's Next Top Model. We obviously spent the most money on promoting Top Model because we had the most viewers to migrate. There are still some of the markets that haven't migrated quite as well. The WB affiliates that have migrated to the old UPN affiliates still have a little bit of a way to go.
TVGuide.com: It looks like there has been week-to-week growth for a lot of your shows, as if more viewers are finding them every week.
Ostroff: That's been the case. Every week we've seen growth, and that's all we can really ask for. Word is getting out. Monday is a different issue, because we just moved the sitcoms (Everybody Hates Chris, All of Us, Girlfriends and The Game) back there. Now we have to communicate that the shows are back on Monday night. But Tuesday through Friday we've been seeing growth every week, which is really what we're looking for. We've also seen some good retention. Last week Supernatural retained 94 percent of the women, 18 to 34, who were watching Smallville, which is great when you think about the competition Thursday at 9 — CSI and Grey's Anatomy. One Tree Hill has retained more viewers than any other show we've put after America's Next Top Model.
TVGuide.com: How is the Tuesday combo of Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars working?
Ostroff: Veronica Mars is doing better than it did last year. Again, we've seen growth, and that's what we're looking for. I'm encouraged.
TVGuide.com: Have you picked it up for the season yet?
Ostroff: Not really. We have time. It will be a few weeks before we have to look at that.
TVGuide.com: You moved pretty fast in putting the sitcoms back on Mondays. Did you underestimate the audience habit that UPN had established there?
Ostroff: It wasn't about underestimation. There were two schools of thought: Why move the shows people have a seven-year habit of being there every Monday? The flipside was that you had 7th Heaven going into its 11th year. How do you move a show when people know to find it there every Monday at 8 o'clock? It was a tough call. We thought the comedies would be good counterprogramming on Sunday night. But when we saw how hard it was to migrate those viewers, we decided to flip it, and I'm glad we did.
TVGuide.com: Do you think that having a series finale for 7th Heaven last season put the show at a disadvantage?
Ostroff: There is no doubt it was a disadvantage. Obviously, we had no intention of having the show come back. It was mainly a financial issue.
TVGuide.com: Will that be picked up for the full season?
Ostroff: That's going to make it through the whole season.
TVGuide.com: Justin Hartley, the actor who plays Green Arrow on Smallville, looks like he's your kind of star. Is there a spin-off in his future?
Ostroff: I never say never. I think he's great in the role. It's adding a lot of life to Smallville. That's a show that keeps getting stronger. The research we've done says viewers think that creatively it's the best season they've had.
TVGuide.com: What do you have in the pipeline for mid-season?
Ostroff: We have Hidden Palms, which is Kevin Williamson's new show. We have In Search of the Next Pussycat Doll. We might have one or two more things that we haven't announced.
TVGuide.com: Is a Pussycat Doll leaving?
Ostroff: No, they are going to add one. It's very cool. It's hard to do a show with someone who is so hot and happening. Most of the people who want to do a show like this are people who are kind of...
TVGuide.com: It's not like they are replacing someone who died. It's very upbeat.
Ostroff: And less depressing.
